Targeting Omp-A Protein of Acinetobacter Baumannii with the Bio-Active Compounds from Azadirachta Indica - an in-silico Approach

Background: Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram negative bacterium which is typically short, round, coccobacillus and was named after the bacteriologist Paul Baumann. It is an emerging dental pathogen since it acquires drug resistance and expression of several virulence genes. It is an opportunistic pathogen in humans, affecting people with compromised immune systems. Acinetobacter baumannii is an arising nosocomial microorganism causing serious complications because of the propensity of its multi-drug resistant property.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to target omp-A protein of Acinetobacter baumannii with the bio active compounds from Azadirachta indica an in-silico approach.

Materials and Methods: The crystal structure of ompA protein was obtained from the PDB protein data bank. The structures of the bio-active derivatives of A. indica were obtained from the chemsketch software. The generated 3D structures were then optimised. Auto Dock instrument was utilized for docking investigation to interpret the affinity between bio-compounds of A. indica against ompA protein of A. baumannii.

Results: The 3D crystal structure of OmpA-like domain from A.baumannii was retrieved from PDB database and its PDB ID was 3TD3 – A chain. 3D Structure of OmpA visualization using Biovia-Discovery studio visualizer. The 2D structure of compounds from Azadirachta indica was drawn using ACD chemsketch and saved in MDL-mol format and converted to PDB format using open babel converter. The final docked structures for the drug ligand interactions were assessed for their binding energies and hydrogen bonds.

Conclusion: The present study had achieved the anti-biofilm inhibitory effect of imidazole-2-carboxylic acid from A. indica exhibiting a great interaction between activity with ompA utilizing computational investigation.